Why is Sebastian Coe's technique considered the best?

600m to 800m in that race= sublime

Coe was a middle distance master, best ever to this day. Clearly, using superior technique to his advantage.

Coevett wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIZT-htcplQ

Amazing run and holding that form in the last 200m must have been painful.

Dragging his heels those last 50m... maybe if he wouldn't known the time he could have pushed more to get under 2:12, great run, but I don't think his form is the best. Seems like he sticks his chest out too far for his frame and has a lot of sway, but it worked for him wonderfully.

klj wrote:

Dragging his heels those last 50m... maybe if he wouldn't known the time he could have pushed more to get under 2:12, great run, but I don't think his form is the best. Seems like he sticks his chest out too far for his frame and has a lot of sway, but it worked for him wonderfully.

Coe had less forward lean than most runners such as Ovett.

He was always more upright especially when he is sprinting.

Max Denbigh wrote:

May someone elaborate on why Coe's running technique considered by many (not all) to be the best/smoothest?

How does it compare/differ to Ovett, El Guerrouj or Morceli?

How about Eliud Kipchoge? Efficient and fast.

Probably the fastest man ever from 1500m to the marathon.

Carrington wrote:

Max Denbigh wrote:

May someone elaborate on why Coe's running technique considered by many (not all) to be the best/smoothest?

How does it compare/differ to Ovett, El Guerrouj or Morceli?

How about Eliud Kipchoge? Efficient and fast.

Probably the fastest man ever from 1500m to the marathon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZuzdJ5H13k

Kipchoge is quicker than Bekele over 1500m?

Max Denbigh wrote:

May someone elaborate on why Coe's running technique considered by many (not all) to be the best/smoothest?

How does it compare/differ to Ovett, El Guerrouj or Morceli?

I don't think anyone has mentioned any female runners.

I really like Svetlana Masterkova's form from her mile WR in Zurich.

Yes, probably doped but the form does look good.

He had the best blood transfusion technique.

100m wrote:

He had the best blood transfusion technique.

If Coe did anything it would be roids, and the jury is out on that one.

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

100m wrote:

He had the best blood transfusion technique.

If Coe did anything it would be roids, and the jury is out on that one.

Coevett is not going to like that kind of talk. ?

Plastered wrote:

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

If Coe did anything it would be roids, and the jury is out on that one.

Coevett is not going to like that kind of talk. ?

LOL! Actually it's quite a fair statement (Subway's). I'm not an expert on doping but from what I've read about suspected pre-EPO blood dopers, Coe just doesn't seem to fit the pattern at all. So that leaves steroids, and there's a lot of reasons to doubt that somebody as slight as him was so skilled at taking steroids (and avoiding detection) back then that he could have benefitted so massively without it leaving any visible effect on his frame. And remember, he was a massively talented 800m runner who then became an 800/1500m middle-distance all-time great, and that was supposedly down to steroids??

Coevett wrote:

LOL! Actually it's quite a fair statement (Subway's). I'm not an expert on doping but from what I've read about suspected pre-EPO blood dopers, Coe just doesn't seem to fit the pattern at all. So that leaves steroids, and there's a lot of reasons to doubt that somebody as slight as him was so skilled at taking steroids (and avoiding detection) back then that he could have benefitted so massively without it leaving any visible effect on his frame. And remember, he was a massively talented 800m runner who then became an 800/1500m middle-distance all-time great, and that was supposedly down to steroids??

Hold on here...let's get to the bottom of this. Are there any confirmed or highly suspected roid users in the mid-d ranks during Coe's era? If so, what did their builds look like? (I'm sure can whip up some photos as you seem pretty good at digging up things from the archives). And for the roid users of distance running, wouldn't it be dose related in terms of using an androgen for building muscle mass vs recovery, rehab of injuries, and so on?

I see what you're saying about steroid use leaving a "visible effect" on a distance runners frame...that makes logical sense at first glance. However, there's a slight problem with this thinking when you examine confirmed steroid cases of distance runners over the last 30 or so years. When I went back and looked their physiques, I'm seeing in many cases no visible effects of steroids. In fact, on some cases like Baumann, I'm thinking "WTF...this guy is supposedly on roids?" I'm seeing small, thin, diminutive builds consistently with these confirmed cases (one guy, Battocletti, is listed as 5-9, 119 lbs!). Take a look at these guys yourself Coevett. I just listed a few notables with faster times & major competition medals from a long exhausting list available Wikipedia's list of doping cases for athletics.

Dieter Baumann/LD (Nandrolone)

Giuliano Battiocletti/Marathon (Nandrolone)

Julio Rey/Marathon (Mesterolone)

Mathew Kisorio/Marathon (undisclosed AAS)

Mostafa Errebbah/LD (Stanozolol)

Martti Vainio/LD (Testosterone)

Hassan Mourhit/LD (Anastrozol)

So, Coevett...what were these accomplished runners taking androgens for? To build muscle mass & bulk? I don't think so considering how small & thin they look. Perhaps for recovery from hard workouts? Injury rehad? Maybe using them in combo with EPO or blood doping (that's the situation in Vainio's case with blood doping). Let's get to the bottom of this.

There is a lurking misconception that one has to possess a certain bulk while using anabolic steroids. There are ways to manipulate the diet and dosing in a way as to avoid this.

Regarding Coe's patently clear use of blood transfusion: his numerous suspicious bloodborne illnesses - such as systemic toxoplasmosis - during that era point to transfusion reactions, various immune complex disorders related to transfusion, and exposure to microbial agents present in blood donors. We can attempt to ignore this on the basis of all loving his running and form, but from a medical basis it is certainly suspicious. Of course we will never have the full data to be fully sure of his cheating - just as we'll never be able to ascertain the EPO use of Komen, Bekele, or El G - but we can maintain reasonable doubt about his innocence, especially in light of his uppity, hypocritical snubs against Justin Gatlin.

Name one other athlete who got such an illness from blood doping.

By the way blood is generally sterile and has no microbial agents

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Name one other athlete who got such an illness from blood doping.

By the way blood is generally sterile and has no microbial agents

Ouch...false. But thanks for the attempted lesson. I supposed you should have taught at my Medical School!

One may attempt to argue the definition of microbe or micro-organism, as it does not, in the strictest sense, include viruses, which are non-living obligate intracellular pathogens. Even so, protists, fungi, and bacteria were commonly transmitted through transfusion in the 1970s and 1980s due to less sophisticated blood processing methods than we have today. Even today, a small but non-zero percentage of individuals who receive transfusions suffer from bacteremia (especially with platelet transfusions) as a result.

If we are to include viruses in the discussion of transfusion-related infections, then the 1980s were truly infamous for the spread of HIV, HCV, HBV, CMV, and a numerous host of other agents through transfusion (in the clinical setting, quite often to hemophiliac patients, many of whom are living with HIV today as a result).

Is there an established higher risk (e.g. shown in studies) of patients getting blood borne infections from blood transfusions?

Just supposing that Coe was blood doping (I don't know if he did btw) would he have not been at least screening his blood for infective agents (assuming it was an autologous transfusion) to reduce or avoid the risk of infection if this was known back in the 1980s? Also were other athletes who were blood doping in the 1980s also getting these sorts of infections? - eg the US cycling team in the 1984 Olympics or the Italian distance runners. The only example that I can think of is the cyclist Ricardo Ribbo who performed a blood tranfusion on himself and he became seriously ill with sepsis and kidney failure:

"On 6 February 2011 Riccò was admitted to a hospital in critical condition, with sepsis and kidney failure, allegedly due to a blood transfusion he performed on himself with 25-day-old blood. Riccò admitted he had performed the transfusion to the doctor treating him in the presence of his girlfriend Vania Rossi. "

“his numerous suspicious bloodborne illnesses - such as systemic toxoplasmosis”

Really! Numerous!? You mean 1.

Millions of people across the world get toxoplasmosis. For most it manifests as flu like symptoms, but for those with a suppressed immune system or someone who is constantly putting their body through stress ( e.g an Olympic athlete) it can linger and will reduce ability by a few percent. If you work in a supermarket you’re not going to notice any difference, but if you’re running an elite 800m, then it’s going to be the difference between winning in 1:42 or coming 4th in 1:45.

That’s what happened to Coe. The worst part of it, which compacted theeffects, was that it went so long undiagnosed.

What percentage of people with toxoplasmosis caught it through a blood transfusion?

And what percentage of people who have had an autologous blood transfusion have acquired toxoplasmosis?

Having toxoplasmosis is no indication of blood doping.